This invention relates generally to a method and device for the loading of trash bags, the device comprising a loading ring of a height less than its diameter and of a height approximately less than one-half the height of the trash bag to facilitate loading the bag in at least two loading stages.
Many people attend to their own lawn and gardening chores, investing in lawn and shrub equipment, fertilizers, weed and insect controls to maintain their properties.
Spring and fall clean-ups often require use of trash containers and bags to remove the refuse from the property because tightening pollution controls often prohibit open burning in many communities. Summertime requires continued effort in property maintenance.
Whether the home dweller has his or her garden and lawn refuse hauled away or transported to a local waste disposal area, disposable plastic trash bags are most commonly used.
The flexible trash bags are often times filled by using a trash container usually of rigid plastic material which serves as a rigid outer support container while the bag is being filled. However, such a system is not only inefficient and time consuming but oftentimes requires the use of a second plastic trash bag liner, and adds to the effort involved in lifting the bag out of the trash container when the bag is filled. Moreover, the loading of refuse into a trash bag without the use of a trash container presents many difficulties in loading the bag without spillage or bag rupture or without assistance in holding open the open top of the bag during filling.
The commercially available throw away plastic trash bags for the disposal of refuse are typically constructed in the form of a thin plastic tube having a closed bottom and open top, shipped flat, and rectangular in shape. The bags are either packaged in continuous tear-off rolls or are cut separately and stacked individually in rectangular cardboard containers, and usually include twist ties. Otherwise the bags may be equipped with bag strings.
Placing such a bag into a round or even a square-shaped trash container makes very inefficient use of the volume capacity of the plastic bag used to line the container, in that refuse such as grass clippings and leaves cannot be readily compacted during the loading process, resulting in the bags being consistently left partially filled. Also, it subjects the bag to tearing as rough objects are forced into the can as it is filled. Moreover, the friction between the bag and the container and the negative pressure produced while lifting the bag out of the container renders the bag removal operation most difficult and tedious. Besides, the gardener must lift the filled bag to about six feet above the ground, assuming a bag height of about three feet and a trash container height of the same dimension.
When the bag is finally lifted out of the trash container, the bag expands to its full volume capacity and the gardener finds the bag only a half or two-thirds filled. It becomes difficult to efficiently add refuse to the bag to make use of the unused space except with the assistance of another person to hold the bag open while filling is completed.